Police to arrest suspects who burnt houses of government officials in Plateau

The houses of three government officials were burnt.

The newly posted Commissioner of Police for Plateau State, Christian Olakpe, has ordered the immediate arrest of suspects who, Tuesday, burnt down the houses of top government officials in Langtang South Local Government Area.

The houses of the local government chairman, a serving commissioner, and a state lawmaker, were burnt during a protest following the dispute between the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, and the Plateau Government over non-payment of seven months outstanding salaries of local government workers in the state.

Addressing a press conference in Jos, Wednesday, as part of acquainting himself with Journalists in the state, the police boss said that he has directed the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of the area to ensure the arrest of persons responsible for the mayhem.

Mr. Olakpe, while speaking on the efforts of the police to restore peace to the troubled Plateau State, challenged officers and men of the command to rise to the occasion of protecting lives and property. He said the command will not allow any act of lawlessness.

The police chief said the command, under his leadership, will adopt intelligent and visible policing as a means of raiding criminals from their hideouts.

Mr. Olakpe described the strike action as “illegal” because of a court order issued to NLC not to embark on the action. He described the atmosphere of the industrial action as “unfortunate” and called on both parties to settle their differences to give peace a chance.

He said miscreants hijacked and destroyed property and houses belonging to a member of the Plateau State Assembly, a serving Commissioner and the Transition Chairman of the local council. However, no life was lost.

Meanwhile, the ongoing indefinite solidarity strike action called by the national leadership of the NLC to press on government to settle the arrears of local government workers entered its second day on Wednesday with most government activities on the stand still.

Earlier in a telephone interview with our reporter, state chairman of the NLC, Jibrin Banchir, said he is overwhelmed with the level of compliance from both the private and government agencies; as banks and other sectors of the economy remained under lock and keyed.

Mr. Banchir dissociated NLC from the fracas that occurred on the first day of the strike resulting to the burning of residential homes.

According to the Plateau Labour leader, the action was the handwork of mischief makers hiding under the cover of the strike to cause confusion. He directed security agents to arrest miscreants taking advantage of the strike to disrupt public peace.